The myths and misconceptions of Australians’ online behaviour
Australia’s digital transformation agenda is well underway in government services, and according to an Australia Post-commissioned survey in 2015, 94 per cent of Australians want all government services to be available online.
But 70 per cent still want the choice of an in-person experience while only 29 per cent of eGov users are satisfied with their experience.
This tension between the imperative of a digital age and our actual behaviour online was highlighted again in Australia Post’s new insight paper, Australia’s pathway to a digital economy.
Although 93 per cent of surveyed Australians have internet access, only 31 per cent of those surveyed are digital ‘Enthusiasts’. Even among the most digitally advanced, online service adoption is still not universal.
What’s more, ‘Socialisers’ (18 per cent of the surveyed population) primarily use the internet solely for information search or communication. ‘Pragmatics’ (25 per cent of those surveyed) are more likely to use online job or course and training searches, or use online government services if they are convenient, but are less likely to express an opinion online or make an online purchase.
These two groups (almost half of all surveyed Australians when combined) could be considered low hanging fruit for increasing online service use.
So what will it take to increase adoption of government services? The following four misconceptions will need to be addressed before the Australian government can achieve its mandate of digitising 80 per cent of its public services by 2020.